PANCHKULA: Mall culture has failed to quite click in Panchkula even after several years of their operations here. Whether its INOX, NH-22, Mall in Amaravti Enclave or Rajhans Cinemas in Sector 5, most shops there have been lying vacant.
At Rajhans only one commercial space, a restaurant, is occupied while remaining all other shops on ground as well as first floor could not be allotted.
Only movie lovers are going on in these malls. Suresh Aggarwal, president of the Haryana Property Consultants’ Federation, said, “Rent and location could be the issue. For shopping, people find place like Elante Mall more favourable owing to location and because all brands are available there under one roof.”
However, Joginder Mittal, owner of Rajhans, said, “Rental was not the issue with our mall. Buyers wanted that we prepare the shop from inside, which was not our model and we did not agree to it as we had already invested huge some in the construction of the mall. We had provided space and they had to build it as per their requirements.”
INOX mall’s owner Kulbhushan Goyal, who is also mayor of the Panchkula municipal corporation, said, “Our mall is running well. Other than movies, from Everyday (for groceries) store to Pizza Hut to Tress Lounge to a gym, we have everything there. We also have a hotel and a banquet hall. However, some shops are vacant on the ground and first floor. Mall culture could not develop in Panchkula. Baring Elante, in the entire Tricity, no mall could work that good. In our mall area, paying capacity of people is also one of the issues other than location and rental factors.”
Even as two theatre malls could not fill their commercial spaces even after several years of operations, one more facility is coming up in Panchkula. Shalimar Mall, which opened in 2009 and got shut down in 2016 following several controversies, is these days getting refurbished and is looking at opening in the second quarter of next year.
While people will soon get a new hangout place, how will the company ward off challenge of renting out its commercial spaces here and running the mall successfully.
Innate Aggarwal, authorised representative of Shalimar Mall, told TOI, “First of all we have a location benefit in Panchkula. Secondly, unlike earlier, things have changed. Retail sector has grown and commercial spaces are working. We are coming with a new concept here.” He added that there would be three film screens and 100 shops.
Single-screen theatres KC Palace in Sector 5 and Suraj in Sector 1 continues to remain shut and deserted. After the advent of multi-screen theatre malls and lack of flexible government policies, the single-screen theatre gradually died a slow death and could never reopen here.
